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Students can sign up for sports teams in the Decorah Community School District, but come next school year, they might not have anyone to compete against.
The district will operate as an independent during the next school year after the Northeast Iowa Conference dissolves at the end of this school year, KCRG reports.
“”I don’t assume that it’s going to be easy to operate as an independent because our schedule is blank and most schools that are in a conference have most of their blanks filled in. But we’re starting with nothing so it’s going to be a challenge for next year,” said Decorah School Board President Cindy Goodner.
Iowa law states every district is entitled to belong to an athletic conference. The Department of Education denied an appeal from the district to switch to the Upper Iowa Conference, saying the school’s enrollment size is more than double the average size of other schools in the conference.
The school also considered joining the WaMaC Conference. The nearest conference school (Independence) would be 68 miles away, and competing against Grinnell in Poweshiek County would mean 290 miles of travel round-trip.
Athletic competition schedules are usually created multiple years in advance, so school board leaders say it’s unrealistic to start making one now for next year. School board leaders say they are now focused on working on a solution for the 2026-27 school year.
These conference changes will not affect the football team.
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